Lost Time
by Malana
Summary: Two years ago, under rather unusual circumstances, Angel married Veronica Mars. Too bad he doesn't remember any of it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: None of the character herein are my own. Their all belong to their respective characters and other various owners.

Author's note. Story is future fic for Veronica Mars, but as far as spoilers go, anything from the series is fair game. As for Angel, it's mid-season 3 (well, as far as Angel can remember anyway) but I'll be playing around with what canon events happen as far as later seasons go.

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Angel woke up to the soft sounds of a slow heartbeat and gentle breathing. There were comforting sounds, in their own way. But they were made a great deal less comforting by the fact that they were coming from right next to him in his bed.

When he looked over beside him and saw a mess of blonde hair spilling over one of his black satin pillow cases, his first thoughts were of Buffy. But that couldn't be right. There's no way Buffy would be here.

Besides the color wasn't quite right. And the smell was all wrong.

Angel found himself unsure of his next move. He had gone to bed last night alone. Just as he did every night. He knew that.

He wasn't the type to pick up a stranger for a one-night stand. And if he were, he'd like to think that he'd at least remember doing so.

There was a quiet murmuring, and the blonde turned over in bed, slowly opening her eyes. He definitely didn't know her. As far as he knew, he'd never even seen the young woman before. And she was young, she couldn't have been any older than 23 or 24.

The woman smiled when she saw him staring at her so intently.

"You know, some people might be a little put off to wake up to someone staring at them with such an odd expression on their face. You're luckily I'm used to it."

Angel was at a loss, "What?"

"No offense, but you do kinda exhibit stalkerish behavior at times. But I've grown immune to it. Two years of marriage will do that, I guess."

"What?"

She shot him a quizzical look. "You. Me. Marriage. Two years. Tell me you didn't forgot that today's our anniversary."

Angel quickly got to his feet. "Okay, this has to be some sort of dream."

Anger clouded the blonde's face. "No. That's not what you say next. What you say next is: "No, Veronica, of course I haven't forgotten. I've got a day planned out for us." Not that I'm really into the whole sappy romance thing, but two years of marriage deserves some sort of recognition."

He ignored her completely for the moment and started pacing. "Okay, maybe not a dream. Maybe something else. A spell!" He turned to Veronica. "Somebody much have cast a spell on us!"

"A spell?"

"That explains it."

"Explains what exactly? I don't think you get to blame forgetting your anniversary on a spell. Nice try though."

"No. It explains this. It explains why you think we're married."

Veronica wrinkled her nose. "No. I think the whole being married to you makes me think we're married." Her tone was clipped as she climbed out of bed, grabbing a dressing gown off the back of a nearby chair and pulling it on.

"No, because we're not. I'd remember being married to someone for two years. And..." he trailed off as a photograph on the nightstand caught his eye. "What's that?"

"It's the picture from last Christmas. The one Cordy gave us. It's been there for months." Anger was quickly being replaced by concern in Veronica's tone of voice.

Angel picked up the framed photograph and stared at it. It was a picture of him and a now blonde claiming to be his wife, Veronica. They were both smiling for the camera, their arms around each other, a Christmas tree visible in the background of what was clearly the lobby of the Hyperion.

Angel shook his head. Anger was over taking him. Obviously some one was messing with his head. Great lengths had been taken for it too. Finding a way to get a girl into his bed without him noticing; the faked photograph that looked completely real; objects around the room that weren't his. There was even a wedding band on his finger. He could only think of one group that would go so far to screw with him. Even though he couldn't figure out why they had chosen this way to do it.

"Wolfram and Hart."

"What about them?" Veronica asked in confusion.

Angel whirled around, glaring at her. "Drop the act. I know what's going on. Maybe you guys cast a spell that didn't work. Maybe I was supposed to have memories to fit this whole marriage scam. That's it, right? You were supposed to make me think that I was someone else, anyone other than the man trying to take down your firm. Are you one of their attack lawyers who just happened to draw the short straw, and get stuck with this assignment? Or maybe you volunteered? Give Lilah and Lindsey a run for their money in the 'fuck with Angel' competition.

Veronica shook her head, backing away from him. "What are you talking about? Angel, what happened to you?" Tears filled her eyes.

Angel wasn't having any of it. "I told you, drop the act." He advanced on her, moving forward until she was backed up against the wall. "Just tell me what's going on."

He towered over her, putting his hands on the wall on either side of her, trapping her.

"You're scaring me, Angel. I don't know what's going on, but something happened to you. I'm Veronica. I'm your wife. We've been married for two years. I don't work for Wolfram and Hart, I've never worked for them. You're really scaring me," she repeated.

"Good," Angel's voice was a growl as he brought a hand around her throat.


	2. Chapter 2

Angel heard the bedroom door open, but he didn't turn around until a heavy book slammed into the back of his head.

He turned to see Cordelia standing behind him, and flinched away when she shoved a cross in his face. She moved it closer, and he stepped back, letting go of Veronica's neck.

"Get the hell away from her, Angelus!" Cordelia looked at Veronica, who had slumped down to the floor, tears streaming down her face. "Are you alright?" Veronica didn't respond. She just sat there, shaking.

"Cordy. It's me. I'm not Angelus. It's Angel." He held up his hands and tried to approach, but she just stuck out the cross again.

"Yeah, right. 'Cause Angel is so likely to strangle his wife."

"My what?"

"Oh, does losing your soul come with memory loss now?" Still holding up the cross, she knelt down next to Veronica and put a protective arm around her.

"No. No. That's what she said too, but it's not true. Cordy, this is some sort of Wolfram and Hart trick. They cast a spell or something."

"I heard shouting!" Wesley said as he came running in. He looked around, confused. "What happened?"

Cordelia pointed at Angel, "He went all evil again and attacked Veronica."

"I'm not evil! And she's not my wife!"

"Of course she's your wife," Wesley said. "I was the best man at your wedding."

"What wedding? I go to bed last night after fighting that cult of Te'van worshiping Delvar demons, and I wake up this morning to a girl I've never seen before who says it's our two-year wedding anniversary!"

Wesley stammered, "An-Angel. The Delvar demons? We fought those what, two or three years ago?" He glanced at Cordelia for confirmation.

"Something like that."

Angel sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. "This isn't possible. How could I have forgotten years of my life?"

He glanced up, horrified as he looked at Veronica. He might not remember her, but if what they were saying was true... God, he had just strangled his wife.

"Veronica..." He got off the bed and moved toward her.

Veronica shot to her feet. "Get away from me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"I said get away! You say you don't know who I am; you say you don't remember me. That's bad enough. But you had your hands around my throat. My husband, the man I love, just tried to strangle me. So don't touch me. Just don't."

Veronica pushed her way past Cordelia and Wesley and practically ran out of the room.

Cordelia sighed. "Wesley, you go after her. If you see Fred and Gunn tell them what's going on and send them up here. I'll deal with Angel for now. But try to get back here. This is probably the result of some sort of spell, and your better at that stuff than I am."

Wesley nodded, "Of course." With one more look at Angel, he headed after Veronica.

"Is she going to be okay?" Angel asked.

Cordelia shook her head. "She's a strong woman, but I don't know. She's pretty close with Wesley. He's got the best chance of calming her down. Well, next to you anyway. And your in no condition for that right now."

"She's really my wife?"

Cordelia sat down on the bed next to him. "A lot happened over the past few years. You really don't remember?"

"No. Not at all. That fight, Cordy. I swear, it happened yesterday. I can remember it so clearly. There's no way that-"

"Angel. We're going to figure out what happened. But it's true."

"And I really love her?" he asked, wonder in his voice.

Cordelia laid her head on his shoulder. "You do. And she loves you. It didn't start off that way, of course. You two pretty much hated each other when you first met."

"Really?"

"Well, she certainly hated you. You were mostly just...annoyed."

Despite himself, Angel smiled a little. But as quick as it came, the smile faded.

"Cordelia. I'm not sure how to-" He paused, then spoke again. "I mean, you and I. We were. There was something-"

Cordelia put a finger to his lips. "Stop right there, Mister. That might be part of the story, but there are more important things you need to know. Let's get Fred and Gunn and go downstairs. We'll figure out exactly when your memory stops, and then we'll fill you in while we try to find out what happened to you."

"Over two years of my life, Cordy. And they're gone."

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, won't we." Cordelia jumped to her feet.

"Come on, Angel. Let's go play 'This is Your Life.'"


End file.
